A double tuned circuit is one which exhibits a resonant condition for at least two discrete frequencies. In the field of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) instruments, the need for such arrangement is experienced in diverse circumstances. One such circumstance is presented where it is desired to irradiate a sample at a high frequency for one purpose while concurrently irradiating the sample at a relatively low frequency for another purpose. This is typical of a decoupling experiment, an example of which is the decoupling of carbon 13--hydrogen bonds while separately exciting the carbon 13 resonance.
A variation of such an arrangement is the concurrent excitation or observation of chemically distinct samples where one such sample is a control for instrumental purposes, as in establishing a field frequency lock, while the second sample is under examination. An example of this may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,434,043. A similar circumstance is the desire to concurrently excite selected different nuclei for acquisition of corresponding spectral response.
A double tuned circuit ordinarily utilizes a single inductor common to two resonant circuits. Each circuit in such an arrangement is separately tuned and impedance matched to its respective RF source (or sink). What is necessary for this arrangement is an isolation element between the high frequency and low frequency sources. Double tuned circuits are known which employ a cable of length .lambda./4 (at the high frequency) to provide such isolation. See, for example, Stoll, Vega and Vaughan, Rev. Sci. Inst., V. 48, pp. 800-803 (1977). Balanced circuits exhibiting electrical (e.g., RF) symmetry are also known for the purpose of supporting double tuned apparatus. Such circuits, among other properties, exhibit the virtue that a symmetry plane (or other surface) is defined which has a property of electrical neutrality, e.g., a virtual ground.
Inductive elements in RF probe circuits are known to include "split inductors" such as taught in the work of Alderman and Grant, J. Mag. Res., V. 36, pp. 447-451 (1979).